It’s not often that Tim Murphy gets outcoached, but that’s exactly what happened last week in Harvard’s loss to Penn. Harvard was gaining yardage at will on the ground, yet Murphy consistently chose to throw down field. QB Viviano likes to stare down one receiver and if that receiver is covered, he immediately panics and tries to scramble. Viviano has a great arm and has the speed to run the ball, but when he gets flustered, Harvard’s offense sputters. The interior of the Crimson’s line is stout featuring Larry Allen’s son, but Penn was able to expose their tackles. RB Charlie Booker led the Crimson on the ground last week with 62 yards and was aided by Semar Smith (27 yards), Adam Scott (19 yards) and Lavance Northington (17 yards). The key to shutting down Harvard’s aerial attack is covering electric WR Justice Shelton-Mosley. Shelton-Mosley had a tame outing at Penn with only 51 receiving yards, but look for Murphy to try to get him in space against the Bulldogs. TE Anthony Firkser is a staple of the offense and had a big 19 yard reception last week.
Harvard’s defensive line is on par with Princeton’s talented position group this season and has size and strength across the board. The unit is led by DT James Duberg, a Second Team All-Ivy pick from a year ago. The linebackers are average for the Ivy League, although the secondary is a talented and experienced group spearheaded by their captain CB Sean Ahern, a First Team All-Ivy selection in 2015. Keep in mind Penn’s Justin Watson was still able to torch Harvard’s secondary.
Keys to the game:
Get inside Murphy’s head (he’s a lowly Springfield grad)
Fluster and hit Viviano
Key on Shelton-Mosley and Firkser in pass coverage
Protect Rawlings
Spread the ball around
Control the clock with Lamar and Salter
BEAT HARVARD!
19 replies on “Harvard Preview”
PROTECT RAWLINGS. IS DIETER EISELEN GOING TO BE THE LINEUP SATURDAY ? HOW ABOUT CANNON ? IF THEY ARE NOT, THEN IT COULD GET UGLY FOR RAWLINGS .
Yale usually plays well in Boston. They should have won two years ago, and they definitely should have won in 2010 when they outplayed H, but lost on special teams play.
And, of course, the last win for Yale was 2006 (has it really been 10 years).
Hoping for a miracle. After all, a 2-6 Harvard team beat an 8-0 Yale team in 1979, so miracles can happen.
Very amused By the (he’s a lowly Springfield grad) comment when we’re led by a Worcester State grad. H 34-10 and that’s bias toward Yale coming out. I actually think that it will be much worse.
Yeah, we do always come close to winning up there. Know who the Harvard QB was in ’06 when we won? Ryan Fitzpatrick of my (sigh) beloved Jets.
Any chance RB Candler Rich will play? I hate our obtuseness regarding injuries. He was so damn good in ’14. Sad that injuries limited him to just a few games after that.
And why did Brian Holmes go from All-Ivy P/PK last year to Sayonara this year? I acknowledge Alex Galland’s hitting 80% of his FG’s, which would probably be a Yale record, but Holmes isn’t even punting or kicking off now, I don’t think.
As I wrote before, I think we’re too beat up to win. Hate to contradict our beloved fight song, but… Yale’s team will fight to the end, but Harvahd will win, 23-13. At least the new Handsome Dan (not yet two months old!) is totes adorbs.
Pretty sure Fitzpatrick was a senior in 2004
Excellent point on Holmes/Galland. Very odd indeed.
I can’t see any reason why this will not be a very ugly rout. And that JV result is an absolute embarrassment. Good lord.
When one looks at the program today, one has to reach back to the great Mike LaFontaine and ask, “Wha happened???????”
I say put Handsome Dan XVlll into the game on Saturday. He’s young, but so’s the team.
Go Dogs!
Those nattering here and elsewhere about the seniors quitting and Coach Reno losing the team should read the moving pieces by Robert Clemons lll and Victor Egu in today’s Yalie Daily.
Also, congratulations to all concerned for the inspiring (really) half-time show at the Princeton game.
All is not lost.
Yale is trailing 19-0 in the first Q of the JV game. Hopefully that’s not indicative of tomorrow’s contest.
61-0 in the 4th. Fire Reno now
Final score?
68-0, and not as close as the score indicates.
68-0????? Ouch
68-0 is probably not so surprising when you look at the varsity record and performance. Anybody who can play even a little bit will be on the field tomorrow in Cambridge, leaving not much for the jv team.
The question that has to be answered is what happened. How I did a program that seemed to be headed in the right direction get so far off track?
One answer could be that Varga and Roberts were such extraordinary talents that they carried the team by themselves, and when they left the team returned to mediocrity (or less). The problem with this analysis is that anyone who has ever played team sports knows that one or two outstanding players can’t make a difference unless they are surrounded by good, if not great, talent (see, for example, Mike Trout).
So, when Yale was good it wasn’t just Varga and Roberts–it was a lot of very strong complimentary players. And, as has been noted here on several occasions, Yale has had some of the best recruiting classes in the Ivy’s the past four years.
So why haven’t these classes, even with out a Vargas and Roberts, produced at least a respectable team this year?
Injuries are one excuse, but every team has injuries. You may recall that Penn’s first team QB was injured and did not play against us, but his replacement lit up our defensive backfield for five passing touchdowns and, as I remember, somewhere around 500 yards passing.
There are other possible excuses–a really tough early season schedule, players who were counted on who never showed up–etc., etc.–it’s easy to make excuses.
The bottom line is that it has to fall back on the coaching. Reno and his assistants just aren’t getting it done. Something needs to change.
Having said all that, I hope I’m proved wrong tomorrow and the Bulldogs pull off a big upset. If Reno can beat Harvard, I’ll be glad to eat crow.
Fire Reno. Those poor boys !
Reluctantly attending because I stupidly bought tickets before this travesty of a season began. Will assume leaving at halftime when the Reno uninspired team is down by only 0-42!
“Our long national nightmare is over” to paraphrase a former Yale assistant coach.
Less importantly, he was also President of the United States.
Well, there will be no firing Reno now!
He wasn’t getting fired anyway. Yale does not fire a coach for a losing season after 2 winning seasons.
Unless there are extenuation circumstances behind the scenes.